The cleanliness of electronic circuit assemblies (ECA), such as printed circuit boards (PCB) or printed wiring boards (PWB), is generally regarded as being critical to their functional reliability. Ionic and nonionic contamination on circuit assemblies is believed to contribute to premature failures of the circuit assemblies by allowing short circuits to develop.
In the manufacture of electronic circuit assemblies, ionic and nonionic contamination can accumulate after one or more steps of the process. Circuit assembly materials are plated, etched, handled by operators in assembly, coated with corrosive or potentially corrosive fluxes and finally soldered.
In the fabrication of electronic circuit assemblies, e.g., printed circuit boards, soldering fluxes are first applied to the substrate board material to ensure firm, uniform bonding of the solder. These soldering fluxes fall into two broad categories: rosin and non-rosin, or water soluble, fluxes. The rosin fluxes, which are generally only moderately corrosive and have a much longer history of use, are still widely used throughout the electronics industry. The water soluble fluxes, which are a more recent development, are being used increasingly in consumer products applications. Because water soluble fluxes contain strong acids and/or amine hydrohalides, such fluxes are very corrosive. Unfortunately, residues of any flux can cause circuit failure if residual traces of the material are not carefully removed following soldering and thus remain on an electronic circuit assembly.
While water soluble fluxes can be easily removed with warm, soapy water, the removal of rosin flux from printed circuit boards is more difficult and has therefore traditionally been carried out with the use of chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents such as 1,1,1,-trichlorethane, trichloroethylene, trichloromonofluoromethane, methylene chloride, trichlorotrifluoroethane (CFC113), tetrachlorodifluoroethane (CFC112) or mixtures or azeotropes of these and/or other solvents. These solvents are undesirable, however, because they are toxic and when released into the environment deplete the ozone layer and/or contribute to the greenhouse global warming effect. Thus, use of such solvents is subject to close scrutiny by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and stringent containment equipment must be used. Moreover, if released into the environment these solvents are not readily biodegradable and are thus hazardous for long periods of time.
Alkaline cleaning compounds known as the alkanolamines, usually in the form of monoethanolamine, have been used for rosin flux removal as an alternative to the toxic chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents. These high pH compounds (e.g., about 12 pH), chemically react with rosin flux to form a rosin soap through the process of saponification. Other organic substances such as surfactants or alcohol derivatives may be added to these alkaline cleaning compounds to facilitate the removal of such rosin soap. Unfortunately, these compounds, as well as the water soluble soldering fluxes, have a tendency to cause corrosion on the surfaces and interfaces of printed wiring boards if such compounds and fluxes are not completely and rapidly removed during the fabrication process.
In other approaches, Daley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,666 utilize a highly caustic solution having a pH of 13 in a batch cleaning process. This method severely oxidizes the solder applied to the circuit board. In Hayes et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,640,719 and 4,740,247 rosin soldering flux and other residues are removed from electronic assemblies by means of terpene compounds in combination with terpene emulsifying surfactants by rinsing in water.
The complete removal of adhesive and other residues also poses a problem. During the manufacture of electronic circuit assemblies the components are mounted on the upper surface of the board with leads protruding downwardly through holes in the board and are secured to the bottom surface of the board by means of an adhesive. Further, it is sometimes necessary to temporarily protect certain portions of the board from processing steps such as the process of creating corrosion resistant gold connecting tabs at the board edges. This transient protection of portions of the circuit board can be achieved by the application of special adhesive tape to susceptible areas. Once such protection is no longer needed, the adhesive tape must be removed. In both instances, a residue of adhesive generally remains which, if not thoroughly removed, can cause premature board failure. Removal of this adhesive residue has traditionally been carried out by the use of chlorinated solvents which, as already described, are toxic and environmentally undesirable.
Thus, the residual contaminants which are likely to be found on electronic circuit assemblies and which can be removed by the compositions and method of the present invention include, but are not limited to, for example, rosin flux, photoresist, solder masks, adhesives, machine oils, greases, silicones, lanolin, mold release, polyglycols and plasticizers.
In copending, commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 731,512, filed Jul. 17, 1991, improved cleaning compositions characterized by non-corrosiveness and low environmental impact, unlike the prior art chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents and alkaline cleaners, are employed for printed wiring board and printed circuit board cleaning. As disclosed therein, printed circuit/wiring board cleaning compositions are provided comprising alkali metal carbonate and bicarbonate salts so combined that they have, when used in concentrations of about 1 to 15 percent by weight, a Ph of from about 10, or less, to 12 and an adequate reserve of titratable alkalinity, at least equivalent to from about 0.2 to 4.5 percent caustic potash (potassium hydroxide), when titrated to the colorless phenolphthalein end point. At least about 50 percent and, preferably, at least about 65 percent by weight of the carbonate salts comprise potassium carbonate. The aqueous cleaning solutions generally contain from about 1 to 15 percent or even more depending on the particular conditions and, preferably, from about 2 to 8 percent by weight of the salts comprising the cleaning composition. In addition, the cleaning solutions usually contain a small amount, e.g., from about 50 to 5000 ppm of a water soluble reducing agent (oxygen scavenger). Preferably, the cleaning solutions also contain at use a small amount, e.g., up to about 0.1 percent by weight of an antifoam agent. These, as well as other adjuvants, e.g., wetting agents, surfactants, etc., can be included with the salts per se or in any solution thereof no matter what the concentration of salts therein. When used according to the above, the compositions do not leave an undesirable residual film.
While the cleaning compositions of the above-mentioned copending application advantageously achieve the objectives stated therein such as providing a method for the safe and effective removal of rosin soldering fluxes from electronic circuit assemblies such as printed circuit boards without otherwise adversely affecting the boards, further improvement with respect to providing anti-corrosion protection to metal components including the solder joints as well as the connecting tabs along the edges of the boards and for providing brightening of all solder joints and metal connectors is still needed.